Human Rights Watch | – – (Washington) – Iraqi government-backed militias carried out widespread destruction of homes and shops around the city of Tikrit in March and April 2015 in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Militiamen deliberately destroyed several hundred civilian buildings with no apparent […]
Tikrit: ‘My Son joined Daesh/ISIL, Now I’m Living in Hell’
By Ghazwan Hassan al-Jibouri | Tikrit | (Niqash.org) | – – While [the so-called ‘Islamic State’ group] ruled Tikrit, many locals joined. When they were beaten there, fighters fled, leaving family members behind. Today those relatives are harassed and cannot even leave their homes. Iraqi woman, Suniyad Mahmoud, lives in a small, mud house with […]
Reports: Reluctant Russian Soldiers Oppose ‘Secret’ Syria Mission
By Tom Balmforth | ( RFE/ RL ) MOSCOW — Several Russian soldiers are seeking help from human rights advocates to oppose what they say are secret orders to send them to Syria, according to media reports that add to evidence of a Russian military buildup in the war-torn Middle East country. The Gazeta.ru news […]
Israel has moved 600,000 Squatters onto Palestinian Land in West Bank
By IMEMC News | – – About 600 thousand settlers live in the West Bank and half of them are in Jerusalem district, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in a Thursday press release. Wiki Commons image WAFA correspondence reports that PCBS presented data detailing the distribution of settlements across West Bank districts, […]
How the GOP’s decades of Angry Resentment Led to Frankentrump
By Randall Stephens | (The Conversation) | – – The latest Republican presidential primary debate had it all: denunciations of President Obama, angry rants about America’s future, and all manner of bile. It seems like a new low – but in reality, Republican candidates have been singing this tune for years. In the fall of […]
Can Digital India flourish without Freedom of Speech? PM Modi in Silicon Valley
Priya Satia | (Huffington Post) | – – The Indian community of Silicon Valley is preparing to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with open arms next week, in a route stop that has outshined the PM’s ultimate U.S. destination–his meeting with President Obama. Mr. Modi comes to promote Digital India, and local Indians are […]
As Iran takes on ISIL/ Daesh, can it avoid the Sectarian Trap?
By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – In an obvious attempt to show initiative and good will, President Hassan Rouhani recently declared Iran’s readiness to discuss Syria with the United States and Saudi Arabia. With the nuclear deal looking likely to be endorsed by the US Congress and the Iranian Majlis – not […]
Rights group: Israelis have killed nearly 2000 Palestinian children since 2000
Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — More than 1,991 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces and extremists since 2000, according to figures released by an international rights group Thursday. Ongoing settlement building in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank are wedging Palestinian children and their families against “expanding and […]
A Guru for Our Time: Eqbal Ahmad and the life of Dissent from Empire
By Stuart Schaar | (Informed Comment) | – – In the early 1960s I was living in Rabat while researching my doctoral dissertation for Princeton University. My friend, the Pakistani Eqbal Ahmad (d. 1999), who was living in Tunisia and also researching his dissertation, had just driven through Algeria as the Algerians celebrated their victory […]


